GIRLS SOCCER: NDP roughs up Jackson Lumen Christi to reach Elite Eight
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BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ANN ARBOR — It took more than a decade for Pontiac Notre Dame Prep to even escape the district level of the girls soccer state tournament.
The Fighting Irish finally did so last spring and enjoyed it so much, they are in the midst of making yet another long run through the postseason.
The third-ranked team in Division 3, NDP ousted No. 9 Jackson Lumen Christi Tuesday in a regional semifinal at Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard by a 5-2 count, moving onto the regional finals for just the third time in school history.
The Fighting Irish will face Grosse Ile, the same team NDP defeated 4-1 in last year’s regional finals, at 5 p.m. Friday in the regional finals, also at Ann Arbor Richard.
MOVING ON UP: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Lindsey Klei (right) and the third-ranked Fighting Irish advance to the regional finals for the second straight season. File Photo | Ken Swart, Swart Photography
“I remember that Grosse Ile was really young last season,” recalled NDP coach Jim Stachura. “We pretty much took it to them last season. I expect it will be a much closer game this season.”
Notre Dame Prep (19-2-2) did its part Tuesday, never trailing and scoring five times in the rout.
“I think we should have scored more and we had a couple of defensive letdowns that allowed them to score,” said Stachura. “We didn’t give them much. I think it was boredom on the defensive end, which led to a couple of breakdowns. We made it closer than we should have. Lumen Christi had a lot of athletes, but not as much skill. We shouldn’t have allowed them to get so close.”
Notre Dame Prep led 2-0 at the half but found themselves clinging to leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in the second half. The Fighting Irish closed out with two goals in the final 20 minutes to pull away.
Taylor Timko scored three goals, including the first, fourth and fifth goals on the night for NDP.
“I think they just didn’t know what to do to stop her,” offered Stachura. “We have a lot of weapons and when Taylor really gets going, it opens up a lot of (room) for us.”
Sarah Mazur made it 2-0 for the Irish, only to see Lumen Christi’s Mallory Hestwood cut into the deficit early in the second half.
Lindsey Klei upped the advantage to 3-1 Notre Dame Prep only again to see Hestwood net another tally for Lumen Christi to bring the score to 3-2 with just under 20 to play.
Timko helped the Fighting Irish pull away, with a goal in the 69th minute and her third goal in the 77th minute for NDP, the final goal coming courtesy of a penalty kick.
“I thought we controlled play at least 75 percent of the game, but Lumen Christi did have a couple of dangerous players to make it interesting,” said Stachura. “But whenever they scored a goal, we had the answer a few minutes later.”
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